'Juwanna' sidekick for 'Joey'? It's Miguel A. Núñez Jr.

The readers of PopWatch have spoken – and the producers of NBC’s Joey have promptly ignored them. Earlier this week, we noted that Matt LeBlanc’s title character would be getting a sidekick named Zach, an effort to improve the show’s creative and commercial fortunes, and you made such interesting casting suggestions as Wonderfalls alum Lee Pace, Matt Dillon, Daryll ”Chill” Mitchell, 90210’s Ian Ziering, and Titus’ Zack Ward.

Well, as we say in New Yawk, fuhgeddaboudit! The role has gone to Miguel Núñez Jr. (left), and if you don’t recognize him, maybe it’s because you’re not picturing him dribbling a basketball in fetching she-drag, a look he sported in his lead role in the 2002 comedy flop Juwanna Mann. Núñez’s Zach is an actor who ”thinks he’s a lot better than he is. He thinks he’s a mover and a shaker, but he’s not,” executive producer Kevin Bright told Variety.

While Núñez’s TV track record (he was regular on such short-lived series as Tarzan, Sparks, and The Faculty) isn’t the kind of thing that will automatically help Joey face off in an ultra-competitive timeslot against Survivor: Guatemala, Alias, Smallville, The O.C., and Everybody Hates Chris, the sitcom will get one other secret weapon in its sophomore year: Bright says the hilarious Jennifer Coolidge (who plays Joey’s agent) will appear in every episode in the upcoming season. Now that’s my idea of must-see TV.